Entitled A Pictorial of the Channel Islands, the book, which was published in 1942 and was probably given to hundreds of German soldiers stationed in Jersey and Guernsey, has recently been translated after it was sent to Islander Vernon Toporis, who in turn passed it on to his son Andrew.
As well as featuring poems by German soldiers and commentary on the history and geography of Jersey and Guernsey, the author, who describes the book as trying to capture ‘the manifold charms of the small island world’, also dedicates a section to rivalries between the islands.
Among dozens of photographs there are pictures of Corbière Lighthouse, St Aubin’s Fort, St Brelade’s Bay and a German soldier armed with a rifle hunting seabirds at low tide and Andrew Toporis, who was given the book by his father after he received it from a friend of a friend who was stationed in Jersey during the Second World War, described it as a ‘rare treasure’.
